Network

[anewhope]

Just setting up a 5 person network to share our cable modem, and just got a few queries about it. We've all got Ethernet NICS and CAt5 cable ready, but i've been told a router would be much better.

We've bought a hub and it's all; ready to go ahead. Not being much of a networking expert, could I set the PC with the cable modem as proxy and hang the other machines off that

 

[Smokie]

The trouble with using one PC as the hub is that the main computer must always be on for the other systems to get on the net.

A router is a better idea in my opinion as you don't have to have that main computer running plus a router usually has an inbuilt firewall

 

[anewhope]

Doesn't matter bout PC being on all the time, i like to download ..

 

[RobbieSan]

you could pick up a cheap 5 port 10/100 switch to achieve the same thing.. with that you wouldn't need to bother with leaving a certain machine on.. grab a Linksys or SMC for cheap..

 

[Zedric]

No that's not true. A switch will do no more than a hub (except perhaps better speed). A router is a much more complex device.